In the transmission of data over wireless networks such as radio frequency networks or infrared networks, problems with noise at different frequencies or on different channels can pose problems for communications. Therefore it has been proposed to establish data processing networks using wireless links that will hop over different frequencies of radio frequency or different wavelengths of infrared light. These will be referred to as different channels. As noise may only be present on one or a few channels, if the network changes channels periodically it will reduce the impact of the selection of noisy channels. However, it is; important that, when a station transmitting data intends to change channels, all of the stations of the network likewise change channels so that they will all be corresponding or communicating on the same channel at such time that a channel is changed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,987, issued Jul. 14, 1992, and assigned to Metricom, Inc., depicts radio communication systems using channel hopping, however the transmission of information does not include the address of the domain ID of the network being used and so would encounter conflicts with other nearby networks. In addition, the transmitting station does not inform the receiving stations to which channel they should next hop. An aging field is used to time hop during normal communication. The foregoing pose limitations which are avoided by the present invention.